(05:34:25 pm) <@Nymphetamine> But for reals, if I end up reworking the Azaani, it'll be the "rare, unique materials from the island powering clockwork" not magic or vectored thrust.
(05:34:34 pm) <Tagert> Nym: I'm cool with that.
(05:34:47 pm) <Tagert> Can work that in to the weather towers
(05:35:11 pm) <@Nymphetamine> unique to the island materials controls its spread and puts a high premium on those materials
(05:35:41 pm) <Tagert> (Uranium)
(05:36:04 pm) <Tagert> The Azaani wonder why their lifespans are significantly shorter than mainlanders.
(05:38:37 pm) <Tagert> Honestly the way I see it
(05:38:43 pm) <Tagert> They just don't have the manpower to control a populace
(05:38:47 pm) <Tagert> It's an island nation
(05:39:18 pm) <Tagert> I imagine they have like, merchant marines on their airships, and a small bastion of defenders stationed on the island
(05:39:29 pm) <Tagert> Most of their inference would be through leveraging their wealth and hiring mercenaries
(05:39:35 pm) <Tagert> Interference
(05:39:39 pm) <@Ravynetti`Tivaurd> see I could go with that
(05:40:34 pm) <Tagert> The reason the island is unasailable though is because of their air superiority, and massive coastal defences
(05:40:55 pm) <Tagert> Because you've gotta be thinking
(05:41:12 pm) <Uzzo> You kinda don't wanna fly 1/10th of your GDP across the ocean for any reason
(05:41:13 pm) <Tagert> There's this island with a small population that controls this extremely rare resource that is extremely expensive
(05:41:28 pm) <Tagert> Some uppity king/queen is gonna get it in their head to try to take that on
(05:41:54 pm) <@Nymphetamine> So the Azaani are basically and island-Swizterland?
(05:42:16 pm) <Tagert> They could act as financiers as well
(05:42:17 pm) <@Nymphetamine> "We have the whole island rigged to explode with claymores."
(05:42:45 pm) <Uzzo> They don't have vaults full of jew tooth gold
(05:42:55 pm) <Uzzo> I mean, they could, we could work that into the wiki if you want
(05:43:24 pm) <Uzzo> Maybe that's why they're so xenophobic, that's a PR nightmare just waitin to explode
(05:43:29 pm) <Tagert> They used to have a Mingit population on the island...
(05:43:33 pm) <Tagert> ...used to.
(05:44:01 pm) <Tagert> The Azaani are not nice people
(05:44:07 pm) <Tagert> I think that needs to be made clear
(05:44:51 pm) <Tagert> I'd imagine most of the world distrusts them because of their 'technology' and willingness to do anything to get their way
(05:46:55 pm) <Gudrun> Are the Pentlanders and Azaani friend or foe?
(05:47:28 pm) <Uzzo> I don't think the Azaani have friends
(05:47:38 pm) <Gudrun> I'm assuming foe, yeah
(05:48:18 pm) <Gudrun> Maybe the Oneidhae will underhandedly make them blood enemies
(05:48:36 pm) <Tagert> The Azaani...yeah. They don't have friends. They have enemies and not-yet-enemies
(05:50:56 pm) <Tagert> Honestly, one of the only things that really needed to change was their social structure.
(05:51:38 pm) <@Nymphetamine> Well, to be fair, when I did talk to Alex about it, I suggested going more a magitech route because I know the clockwork stuff is something people wanted to use.
(05:55:56 pm) <Tagert> Anyway. Azaan.
(05:55:59 pm) <@Ravynetti`Tivaurd> yeah
(05:56:13 pm) <@Ravynetti`Tivaurd> we need to redo it along the lines of what you were talkig about, but figure out the new social classes!
(05:56:56 pm) <Tagert> It will obviously still be based around a sort of technocracy
(05:57:09 pm) <Tagert> So the chief artificer in charge and all that
(05:57:43 pm) <Jarrod`> Can the social classes be assigned at birth through some pseudoscientific practice like craniology?
(05:58:02 pm) <Tagert> Nah. It would be assigned based on academic achievement
(05:58:27 pm) <Uzzo> Except access to academics is restricted based on birth
(05:58:59 pm) <Tagert> Yeah, that makes sense
(05:59:19 pm) <Tagert> You have the odd prodigy that's able to work their way up the social ranks
(05:59:34 pm) <Tagert> And then you have the family that has a dunce as a child and ends up in the sweat shops
(05:59:54 pm) <@Ravynetti`Tivaurd> >The whole family<
(06:00:03 pm) <Tagert> Take the north korean approach
(06:00:07 pm) <Tagert> Three generations
(06:00:11 pm) <Uzzo> On the bright side? Gender equality in Azaani is top notch
(06:00:22 pm) <Tagert> Yeah. They don't care if you're a man or a woman
(06:01:03 pm) <Tagert> So...families watch how their kids are doing academically and...if they don't quite match up to the expectation...
(06:01:04 pm) <Tagert> Well...
(06:01:15 pm) <Tagert> There's always the back of the bike shed
(06:01:25 pm) <Uzzo> "In short, if one is not a craftsman or other person of education, you are dirt."
(06:01:35 pm) <Uzzo> I think that sums up how the Azaani should roll perfectly
(06:02:12 pm) <Uzzo> Also explains why they have craptons of slaves
(06:02:28 pm) <Tagert> And their small population
(06:03:10 pm) <Uzzo> It's all about resource management, gotta run a tight ship on a single island nation
(06:03:36 pm) <Tagert> I'd imagine the bulk of Azaani incoming trade would be foreign foods
(06:03:45 pm) <Uzzo> Finite resources does not equate utopia society
(06:04:15 pm) <@Ravynetti`Tivaurd> get trade with the duergar
(06:04:32 pm) <@Ravynetti`Tivaurd> the dol-druuni trade them food for slaves.
(06:04:33 pm) <Tagert> The Azaani don't care who they trade with, so long as they're getting a good deal
(06:04:46 pm) <Uzzo> I could see em leveragin their ability to control water trade routes in the area with an iron fist
(06:04:51 pm) <@Ravynetti`Tivaurd> 50% of the weight in slaves is traded back in edible meat product.
(06:05:00 pm) <Tagert> And a good deal to them is different to anyone else
(06:05:08 pm) <Tagert> 'Hmm. Yes. That rock there. We would like that rock.'
(06:05:08 pm) <Uzzo> So, they promise not to murder the ever living fuck out of you when you're sailin in their waters, and they get a cut of the trade action
(06:05:49 pm) <Uzzo> And since they're isolated out in the middle of the ocean, ain't like they got any competition to who claims those trade routes
(06:06:11 pm) <Tagert> Maybe the Azaan actually have clockwork submersibles to trade with the Oneidhae
(06:11:52 pm) <Tagert> I'd imagine any technology the Azaan provide to other nations is purely on a 'loan' basis, and an expectation that it will be operated solely by an Azaani person or with them around.
(06:12:18 pm) <Tagert> They engineer planned obsolescence, so if it doesn't get serviced by an Azaani craftsman in the right way, it stops working
(06:12:37 pm) <Uzzo> I could definitely see that bein their MO
(06:12:49 pm) <Tagert> Basically don't let the primitives control anything
(06:14:02 pm) <Uzzo> "When pressed, the Azaan artificers responsible have only ever responded that it involves 'Trade Secrets'."
(06:14:50 pm) <@Ravynetti`Tivaurd> gotta make them weather pylons drache controlled though